If you love animals, you can start a high-profit business taking care of pets or creating a product or service that pet owners need or want. Here are 25 suggestions to get you started.

1. PET FURNITURE: If you have a knack for making furniture, you can clean up by making fun furniture items for pets with nice padded cushions.

2. ANIMAL REGISTRATION & IDENTIFICATION SERVICE: This business photographs pets and create a dossier to help identify them should the pet become lost. The information can be used to help locate the little one as quickly as possible.

3. PET-FINDER SERVICE: A lost pet is a crisis. It’s a magical thing when the pet reappears. You can tie in with business number 21 and offer the pet-finding service as an adjunct enterprise.

4. BIRD HOUSES: If you have a knack for building things, create custom designed bird houses for outdoor use. They can look like the homeowner’s home, too.

5. PET PICK-UP: This is a more elegant title for a pooper scooper service. You target homeowners as your clients and clean up their yards once or twice a week. You charge by the hour or by the call. Once you establish a nice clientele, consider hiring others to perform the task.

6. SHUTTLE SERVICE: There are plenty of people who need to travel long distances each weekend. They are going off to their country home or going to visit relatives in another state. Often, they travel on train or air shuttle and can’t take their beloved pet. You can start a business carting the pets in a van.
7. PET FOOD DELIVERY: Perfect for people with lots of pets and a perfect service to sell to senior citizens. You cart the 25-pound bags of feed or food right to your customer’s home. You can also sell dishes and water containers for extra profit.

8. PET BOOTS: You can make and sell boots for dogs. They will be a hit in urban areas where salt is routinely put on the icy and dirty streets.

9. PHOTOGRAPHY: If you have a lot of patience and a good camera, start a business taking formal portraits or whimsical photos of pets.

10. CUSTOMIZED STUFFED ANIMALS: If you have a knack for crafts, consider making stuffed animals that look like specific pets. You can work from photos and sell these little creatures online or via mail order.

11. PHOTO T-SHIRTS: Pet crazed individuals would love to have a t-shirt featuring a photo of their pet. A coffee mug, too, would be nice. Contact companies that provide personalized products (see our biz opp listing beginning on page 68).

12. AQUARIUM SERVICE: You can start a very high-profit venture designing, installing and maintaining aquariums for busy clients. Target industrial parks and medical offices where aquariums are popular. We know of one gentleman in upstate New York who pockets $1,000 a week for two day’s work. Most of his jobs are in just a few buildings so traveling time is cut to a minimum.

13. PLAYGROUND: This is different from doggie day care, because you are not spending all your time with the animals, but just providing overall supervision as they prance and play on your lot while their owners do their laundry, food shopping or complete other chores.

14. BIRD CAGE MAINTENANCE & CARE: You can start a business setting up birds in bird cages and then return to maintain them. This is especially good for industrial plazas, doctors’ offices and legal firms.

15. PET HOTEL: Is there a need for a pet hotel in your town? Do you live in a resort area or a college town? Do most of the local hotels and motels have a ban on pets? You can take these pets in for the night or the week.

16. PET TAXI: The pet shuttle (#2) takes pet long distances, but the taxi is perfect for quick trips to the vet or a ride through the park. It can be hard to get those little devils out to the car when the trip to the vet is over. We’ve all known someone who’s been late to work because they had to take the cat to the vet or drop the dog off to have its coat washed and groomed. You can start a business that helps people out by serving as a taxi cab for their pets.

17. BIRTHDAY PARTIES: People with money and pets spend a lot on their critters. If you cater to upscale
clients you can bank on a fortune by providing dog owners with birthday parties for their pets.

18. PET WASH AND GO: There are a lot of people who have trouble giving their dogs a bath. You can make some nice money offering this wash-and-go service. For many consumers, it is not worth the hassle to try this at home.

19. DESIGNER DOG HOUSES: Are you a handyman who needs a new project? Consider creating your own line of dog houses. You can make these homes look like well-known structures such as The White House, Roman temples and Versailles.

20. SELL PET PRODUCTS: You can buy pet goods and foods and accessories and sell them yourself, either through mail order, through flea markets or by developing your own catalog. You can purchase the goods at wholesale prices and then resell them.

21. PET SITTING/WALKING: There’s no one home to care for poochie! You can charge by the hour, by the day or by the visit. For more information, contact the National Association of Pet Sitters, by visiting their website at www.petsitters.org.

22. MATCHING SERVICE: You match pets to people and match different breeds of specific animals to your clients.

23. CUSTOMIZED PILLOWS: Personalized products are always a hit. The pillows could feature pet-themed fabrics or come monogrammed with the pet’s name.

24. PET DAY CARE: You watch pets for the day or the hour. Charge a minimum to ensure that you’ll make money for short stays, too.

25. GROOMING SERVICE: You’ll need to look into grooming schools. Consider becoming an apprentice with a recognized business in your community and then branch out on your own.•